Stella leads a double life in WW2 Venice. She works in a Reich office as a translator by day, but by night she is a member of the Resistance. She writes for an underground Resistance newspaper and serves as a messenger, helping to move valuable information around the city. Her role in the Resistance is dangerous and she is constantly trying to maintain her safety and that of her family.

This book was hit or miss for me. I typically love a WW2 historical fiction novel and have read many books of this type. This book is told from a dual point of view, Stella's during WW2 and her granddaughter Luisa's in present day. Luisa is trying to piece together Stella's story many years later.

What worked for me/what I liked:
-I enjoyed the setting in Venice. This was the first WW2 book I read that was set in Venice and it was nice to get a different perspective of the war.

What didn't work:
-The dual point of view seemed almost as if it was an afterthought in this book. The amount of the story told from Stella's point of view was disproportionate to that from Luisa's. I think the story would have been equally effective without the present day point of view.
-This book was a slow start for me. It took nearly 2/3rds of the book before I really felt the book picked up steam. The last portion of the book was much more intriguing to me than the rest of the book and the final storyline was the most captivating overall.

I would have rated this book a solid 3, but would increase to 3.5 with the final storyline.

The story is mostly based on Stella in 1934 who has her first glimpse of Hitler with her popsa ( grandad)

The book also reverts to modern day and covers the story of Lisa. Her mum died after 2 weeks of diagnosis and she is left in shock and bereft. She finds some letters which led her to find out about her history.
It is based on the war from a venice view which is unusual and how the woman in Venice carried out ways to help in the war effort in the resistance. They took risks on a daily basis and lived double lives .

The cover is very eye catching and the writing style is easy to follow. This is the 2nd novel I have read by this author and look forward to more.
Many thanks to NetGalley, Mandy Robotham and Avon for the advance copy .

I loved this book because it's well written and poignant but also because it talks about the Italian Resistance and my father was an Italian resistant.
I appreciated the two parts: the historical one, well researched and realistic, and the contemporary one, poignant and engrossing.
The characters are well thought, the historical background is vivid and well described, and the plot is gripping.
An excellent read, highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and am rating it 4 stars.

Stella’s character was incredibly brave and I was always so curious about what she would do next. Also, my interest was piqued by Christian’s character as well. I wanted him to not be the Fascist and Nazi supporter that he seemed, and found the ending extremely satisfying in regards to his character.

Thanks to netgalley for an early copy in return for an honest review
First time reading this Author and was highly impressed love a good ww2 book and this certainly did not disappoint good storyline and held my attention throughout can recommend

This book scored a hat trick for me. Historical fiction: Check! Set during WWII: Check! Women working for the Resistance: Check! I was captivated by Stella's story just from reading the summary. My fascination with brave men and women who were willing to risk everything to suppress evil has been mainly limited to France with a just a smattering of Italy. I had not heard anything about the Resistance movement in Venice. To hear that a great majority of people believed that the Venetians had experienced a "soft war" was disheartening. At first, I was not a fan of Luisa but, as I read on, I empathized with her need to find out about her grandmother's past. I liked the occasional twists and turns as the story unfolds. I look forward to more "untold" stories that contributed to the freedoms that we enjoy today.

Thank you to Avon Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This story is about the double life Stella led during the war. She worked in the office of a German officer during the day, and then worked for the Resistance at night. Also, she was a carrier. It seemed like almost unbelievable that she could do all of this.

The Secret Messenger by Mandy Robotham provides a new twist on novels about resistance fighters during World War II. While recently I have read and enjoyed novels about the resistance set in Germany and France, this particular novel is set in Venice. In addition to a new setting and the added twist of Fascists and Nazis, there is also a split time aspect which makes this novel most enjoyable.

Stella has a day job as a typist in the local Nazi office which allows her to collect intelligence information. Outside of work, she is active in the local resistance efforts--particularly in helping to publish an underground newspaper and pass messages. Significant to the story is her typewriter which has a distinctive dropped letter e. As required in any good World War II novel, there are love interests and numerous times when Stella is nearly caught.

In modern day, Luisa find her grandmother Stella's typewriter and a box of papers while cleaning out her deceased mother's attic in England. Knowing that her mother and grandmother did not have a good relationship, Luisa sets out to find the truth of her grandmother's background. She is particularly perplexed by two pictures of her grandmother with gentlemen--one labeled "C" and the other "Geo." Luisa travels to Venice on a off-chance she might find someone who can shed light on the pictures and her family history.

The Secret Messenger has exactly the right mix of intrigue regarding the resistance movement, combined with a background romance regarding the two gentleman in Stella's life that is not resolved until the end of the book. Luisa's desire to learn more about her grandmother provides a nice backdrop to unfold the story and provides some extra twists to the plot. This marvelous and highly recommended story on a little known aspect of World War II is already an international bestseller!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received The Secret Messenger via NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising

I have read many WW2 era stories where the present day relative discovers something from the past and wants to investigate further. In this story, Luisa is cleaning out her mother's belonings and discovers an old typewriter that belonged to her grandmother, Stella. Most of the story takes place in the 1940s, not present day. What was new for me was the descriptions of what it was like to like in Venice during the Nazi occupation and what it was like to be in the resistance. I would have liked more of a story about Luisa and her relationship with her mother and Luisa's mother's relationship with her mother, Stella. It took a while for me to become engrossed in Stella's story.

I enjoyed this historical fiction book about WW2 in Venice as it’s not a setting you usually see for WW2 books. I found the present story running through it a little unnecessary and thought this was not needed as the story set in WW2 and just after was enough. I liked the characters and the realism of the war element of the story.

Thanks for letting me review this book

This is my first book by this author and I like her writing style. It was easy to read.

I enjoyed the subject matter of the book. There are that many books out featuring Italy in in WWII and it is something I didn’t know much about. And following the story of a female resistance member was something else I really liked.

I did feel that both of the main characters were one dimensional. I didn’t feel like I got to know them during the book. I wanted a bit more background and depth of the main character so that I would care more about them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for providing me with the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It took me a bit longer to read this book, but I was engrossed in the story from the beginning. I admit my Slovenian grandmother's WWII story and her encounter with the Italian fascists as a child piqued my interest in the novel, however, I felt an unexpected connection to these interesting and admirable Resistance characters. With its Venetian setting, which I personally hadn't encountered before in a WWII historical fiction work, it was an opportunity for me to learn about a side of the war I knew little of. 

While a majority of this story takes place in the early 40s, it does jump to the present-day, as well. As a young genealogist who spends the majority of my free time researching my family's history, I felt akin to Luisa and the pull that overcame her to uncover her grandmother Stella's wartime past. 

There were so many brilliant moments in the novel---places that utterly caught my breath, my heart racing, and my eyes scanning the pages to see what came next. Encounters with Nazis when you've something to hide in plain sight. Stealing sweet and emotionally perplexing moments with the "enemy." Not knowing what's become of your family member. Then from Luisa's perspective, wondering who your grandmother really was and most importantly, what you're really made of because of their actions and legacy. After all, that's the reason most of us end up venturing into ancestral research, isn't it? To find ourselves?

The Secret Messenger really had all the workings of an awesome historical fiction novel: a refreshingly exhilarating plot, strong characters, excellent tone and craft, a hint of romance, and suspense. I simply loved this book.

I really enjoyed this historical fiction book centered upon Luisa and Stella. Luisa in present day London and Stella in 1940's Venice, Italy. I liked hearing about Venice during the WW2 as its not something I know anything about and even though they had a "soft war" it was interesting to read about what the resistance did in Venice.

I didn't really understand why Luisa's mother and Luisa didn't seem to have a better relationship i didn't think that was explained very well. But I enjoyed that Luisa had good memories of her grandmother, Stella.

I thought the chapters regarding Stella were more interesting and flushed out until the last few ones where Luisa went to Venice and figured out the mystery of her grandmother.

This was a great read and I couldn't put it down. Pick it up if you would too like to learn more about Venice and WW2.

This one was ok again I lost concentration in parts and found myself skim reading it. I didn’t enjoy the ending either.

Many thanks to #NetGalley and Avon Books for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book by Mandy Robotham which is due to be published December 12th, 2019. The following are my personal thoughts.

First off, kudos to the artist for the excellent cover design.

It took me awhile to make my way through this book. It is the second novel that I have read by this author (the first being The German Midwife). I found the beginning of the story very slow moving and to make it even more difficult for me, I herniated a disk in my back which caused difficulties in concentration and just generally slowed down the reading process in total.

I think one of the challenging things for me was that the author basically picked Venice as her location and then went out to “find” a story. Some of what she found was fascinating and very informative. I have visited Italy and also Venice. I tend to look for things related to the war when I travel but I don’t remember seeing or hearing very much about it while I was there. There were some things that the author wrote about that I might well look for should I make a second visit some day. Another difficulty I had while reading this is that the author chose to tell the stories as if they were happening right now. I always seem to struggle with books written this way and occasionally find authors veer outside of it which can cause even more confusion. What she had to say was educational, but I just didn’t “feel” it very much. At times I felt as if I was reading subtitles intended for those with hearing impairments. This is definitely a personal issue that I have, and it might not affect other readers the same way.

Having said that, I never felt that the characters were fully developed. Stella talked often about how important it was not to let people know what she was doing. She took risky chances and met up with an Allied pilot of Italian extraction. One of the first things she did was tell her best friend, Mimi all about him. To me that just didn’t fit with what she was saying about the need for secrecy.

There were some twists and turns in the book which I found interesting. While I never felt I really got to know Luisa, the descendant of Stella Jirlani, I could understand her motivation because I share that motivation in terms of my own ancestors who served in the wars. Luisa visits Venice and meets with a man (based on a real-life person that the author met) who will help her with her research who said something that did really speak to me.
“Whether or not they are dead and gone, history defines us. It makes us what we are right now.” This was spot on for me.

I had to laugh when Stella’s father commented on Mussolini describing him as “a big clown” and declaring that clowns “create havoc. And they get away with it.” It seems all too current sadly.

For me this book was a three star read.

Loved the dual timeframe! This story of the resistance in Venice during WWII is fascinating. The characters are interesting and real. Stella's bravery and loyalty to the resistance is notable. Louisa is such a sad character and struggles to find meaning. Their stories together make for an interesting book. Recommended!

I really enjoyed this book! Not quite as much as The German Midwife but it was still very good! It is always so refreshing to read a war story that you don't hear too much of...in this case the resistance in Venice.
I would recommend it to any of my friends who love a good WW2 book! Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced copy!

Over the last few years, I have read WWII books based in London, Berlin, Poland, and Auschwitz, but this is the first one I've seen based on the Resistance in Vienna. It is said that Vienna had a "soft war" because it escaped much of the bombing experienced in other cities, but Vienna fought it's own version of the war that was not less horrific.

Luisa's mother passed away in London in 2017. While going through her mother's house, she happens upon an old portable typewriter. Under it are old boxes, one of whom contains an old photo of a couple in Venice. The back was labeled "S and C, San Marco June 1950". Underneath are more photographs, scraps of paper, and copies of Venezia Liberare. It's a mystery, and as a writer there is nothing Luisa enjoys more than a mystery that might become a story. it is especially poignant that this mystery might help her know more about her grandparents and her mother.

The book tells the story of Stella, Luisa's grandmother, and the work she and others did with the Resistance in Vienna as she also worked in a Natzi office. It tells how Stella uses the typewriter found in the attic to inform and motivate the people in the Resistance. Occasionally, you'll read of Luisa's unravelling of the mystery her grandmother had hidden for years. There is a very surprising ending. If you like WWII stories, this is a must read. It is not as graphic as some other WWII historical fiction books.

This book was an amazing look at another part of World War II. The characters were in depth and interesting to read about. Stella is a typist in Venice, who works for the Nazi regime, but is an undercover messenger for the resistance. She spends the war constantly watching her back and helping as many people as she can. The author also integrated Stella's granddaughter into the story and had the motivation to want to know and learn more about her grandmother and her involvement in the resistance during World War II.
Tied into this story was also the beauty of Venice and a love story intertwined within the story of a typist who is trying to help with the resistance, balance her family and figure out the feelings she is having for this man in her life.

This gripping tale of a girl caught between two worlds had me riveted. So much feeling, love, and sorrow wrapped up into one story that crosses the generations, reminding us of the sacrifices and tragedies that were a daily part of the lives of real men and women not so long ago.